31-08-2016

PRODUCTION: Serbian Director Sotra Shooting Feature Film and TV Series on Poet Laza Kostic

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    The set of Santa Maria della Salute by Zdravko Šotra in Sremski Karlovci, Serbia The set of Santa Maria della Salute by Zdravko Šotra in Sremski Karlovci, Serbia

    BELGRADE: Serbian director Zdravko Šotra is in production with Santa Maria della Salute, a feature film and a TV series shot simultaneously, about the life and work of the Serbian poet Laza Kostić. Shooting started on 1 August 2016 and will wrap at the end of October 2016. The 70 shooting days will be spent on location in Serbia, Montenegro (Cetinje), Italy (Venice) and Hungary (Budapest). The total number of locations amounts to around 150. The film and TV series are being edited as the shoot is progressing.

    Santa Maria della Salute is a biographical account of the impossible and tragic love between Lenka Dunđerski and Laza Kostić, that inspired the love poem Santa Maria della Salute written by Kostić during the last decade of his life.

    The main characters are played by Vojin Ćetković, Tamara Aleksić, Dejan Lutkić, Sloboda Mićalović and Aleksandar Đurica. Dragan Đurković and Dejan Lutkić are executive producers through Serbia’s Visionteam along with the national Serbian broadcasting company, RTS.

    With two different scripts, the two projects are being made with the same high, yet undisclosed budget, and are supported by the towns and cities they are shooting in. This support amounts to approximately 10-15% of the entire budget, according to Lutkić. The director is working closely on the set with the historical consultant Milan Bulatović.

    “Taking into account that we are shooting a film and a TV series at the same time in a country that is a small market with seven million people, we are looking to expand on a regional level since, at the end of the day, Laza Kostić was a poet who was also famous outside Serbia. It is complex, it is difficult, it is demanding and yet… I strongly believe that we will make something valuable, and also that there is a way to raise the national conscience to a higher level,” Lutkić said.

    The premiere is set for 20 December 2016 in Belgrade and the following day in Novi Sad. The film will then enter regular distribution and will be released in cinemas in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia (Republika srpska), while the 11 episodes of the TV series will be broadcast on RTS in the second half of 2017, on Sundays at 8 pm. TV rights for both projects belong exclusively to RTSArt-Vista is handling local and regional distribution. No sales agent is attached to the feature film yet.

    Production Information:

    Radio Televizija Srbije
    Takovska 10
    11000 Belgrade, Serbia
    Phone: +381 11 321 20 00/ +381 11 324 90 00
    www.rts.rs 
    This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

    Visionteam
    Dalmatinska 33/V
    11000 Belgrade, Serbia
    Phone: +381 11 201 98 29
    www.visionteam.rs

    Credits:

    Director: Zdravko Šotra
    Scriptwriter: Zdravko Šotra
    D.o.P: Veselko Krčmar
    Cast:   Vojin Ćetković, Tamara Aleksić, Dejan Lutkić, Sloboda Mićalović, Aleksandar Đurica, Nebojša Dugalić, Srđan Timarov, Ivan Bosiljčić, Mirka Vasiljević, Joakim Tasić, Nela Mihailović, Miki Krstović, Aleksandar Berček, Nataša Ninković, Nebojša Kundačina, Radoje Čupić, Milica Grujičić and Marko Janketić